Washington DC - The Justice Department has informed Voice of America its staff can resume programming next week after the broadcaster was shuttered by President Donald Trump in March, a press freedom NGO and a VOA employee said Saturday.

The US government-run news service for international audiences has been off the air since Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA and other broadcasters, including Radio Free Asia, and distributes federal funding for their operations.

"A Justice Department attorney has sent an email to our lawyer, David Seide, informing him that USAGM expects VOA staff to begin a 'phased return' to work and programming to resume next week," the service's chief national correspondent Steve Herman posted on X.

Two VOA employees said Saturday that work email accounts which were frozen have been unblocked, although they had yet to receive any formal notice telling them they can return to work.

Donald Trump Trump defends possibly sending US into recession with his economic agenda

Non-profit group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said its lawyers along with those of VOA had received word from the Justice Department that the broadcaster's employees were being allowed to return to work.

"We understand that earlier today USAGM... activated the accounts of 1,406 USAGM and VOA employees and contractors," the DOJ email read, according to RSF.

"USAGM currently expects staff to begin to return to the office next week, as security, building space, and equipment issues require a phased return," it said, adding: "USAGM anticipates VOA programming to resume next week."

VOA's revival marks a defeat of sorts for Trump.

The president has questioned why the broadcaster that reaches millions of weekly listeners and viewers worldwide is not promoting his administration's viewpoint, bristling at the editorial "firewall" that let the service operate independently.

In an April letter to lawmakers, several former directors of VOA, nominated across party lines over the decades, pressed Congress to intervene to restore the broadcaster, after a judge said Trump's shutdown violated the law.

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day, which celebrates the role of a free press and highlights the challenges for journalism around the globe.